A number and variety of hardware and software devices may be utilized to capture, process, or transmit data within a device network. In a commercial environment a device network could include bar code readers, point-of-sale terminals, card scanners, cash registers, receipt printers, video cameras, and the like. In a medical, or patient-monitoring environment, the devices might include various devices used for monitoring vital signs and body functions such as blood pressure monitors, respiratory activity monitors, heart activity monitors (such as electrocardiogram devices), brain activity monitors (such as electro-encephalography monitors), and various output device such as intravenous pumps, incubators, respirators, and the like. In a physical-security environment the devices utilized might include door and window contacts, card readers, video cameras, motion detectors, environmental sensors, metal detectors, scanning devices, electronic article surveillance tags, biometric devices, and the like. Accordingly, stated generally, the particular devices used in a device network will vary in accordance with the required function of the device network.
In a conventional security embodiment the controls for security, environmental, and access control devices are typically administered through hardware control panels. Control panels are used to physically activate, deactivate, or configure devices that are physically or logically connected to a panel. Control panels generally include some type of small format screen to display textual data reflective of a device's condition such as “armed” or “disarmed.” A typical control panel has little memory and limited data processing or storage capacity. Further, the typical control panel is not well suited for data communication to remote monitoring terminals, such as the transmission of control commands from a remote monitoring terminal to a control panel. One approach to provide greater remote user functionality involves the use of a networked communications controller for facilitating communication to the devices. For example, devices such as video cameras can be connected to self-contained data collection/Web servers that operable to send collected data directly over a network without the assistance of an external device. Accordingly, information may be shared across a wide-area network (“WAN”) with remote clients.
In one embodiment, a remote client may gain access to device data and control through the utilization of data access tools hosted by a network-based software application, generally referred to as a browser application. Generally described, browser applications require “handshake” or acknowledgment signals prior to an exchange of data. However, the handshaking steps consume available processing capacity and bandwidth that can constrain access to and flow of data. Additionally, data flow is typically initiated by the receiving computing device such that the receiving computing device must constantly poll another networked device for data to enable pseudo real-time communications. If the polling frequency is too large, time-sensitive data may become stale before it is received. If the polling frequency is too small, computing and communication resources are unnecessarily strained. Furthermore, as the data tools are designed for a generic network software application, some data tool features may not be supported various implementations of a network software application. Accordingly, the functionality for a class of users utilizing the particular hosting software application is diminished.
In another embodiment, a computing device may be loaded with a resident software application specifically constructed to communicate with the networked communications controller. Although the resident software application provides a user with a more permanent communications solution, conventional resident software applications can present security risks for unauthorized users accessing the computing device. In one aspect, the amount of data a user may be authorized to access may vary greatly. In another aspect, multiple users may be utilizing the same computing device, with each user having potentially varying authorization levels. Further, the utilization of resident software applications places the burden on each individual user to update the resident software application in the event modifications are made. Accordingly, resident software applications become deficient in addressing varying authorization rights and maintenance needs.
Thus, there is a need for a system and method for processing data communications in a networked environment.